These boot(ie)s were made for walking

(Reprinted from The Shopping Sherpa)A part ball of Patonyle, picked up for 50 cents from Vinnies Tuggeranong on Saturday morning got me thinking about booties for my (colour loving) CIT teacher's baby to be.

Thanks to the joys of Ravelry I managed to hunt down a version (rav link) of my favorite stay-on-no-matter-what 4-ply baby bootie pattern and whipped these up. The fact that the striping is ever so slightly off bugs me big-time but I'm telling myself it adds an air of handcrafted charm...

And I rediscovered a large ball of cream Bendi 4 ply I got in the $5 bag I've mentioned before. I think my baby knitting is sorted for a very very long time...

Big T, little t: what begins with T?

(Reprinted from The Shopping Sherpa)

Here's one I prepared earlier...

On the same trip (to the new Salvos Mitchell) that netted me the $4 loom I used for one of the pieces for my final assessment I also picked up a large bag of vintage sewing patterns for $3: (Early morning eye candy for you)

There were more patterns in the bag: some went home with Taph, who visited later that day and the rest (nasty frothy 1980s formal dress patterns) have already been recycled. Into packing material for the pieces for my final assessment. I thought it quite apt:

Lunchtime finds

I managed to pop over to Y's Buys at lunchtime today (yay! op shopping!) and spent $4.30 on this:

Four rolls of vintage wallpaper, a good dolls house scale, for $2 the lot (let me know if you'd like some and we can arrange a swap). Three rolls of vintage tape for $2 the lot. And a length of braid for another 30 cents. I was well pleased with my haul.

Mystery object!

I bought this today at the Salvo's Bargain Basement in Fyshwick. It was a bargain too, I spotted it on the way out the door and was told what I'd paid for a few other bits and pieces "covered that too, love".

It's stainless steel, about 10 cm from beak to tail. The centre flap comes up (as you see) and has a small hole in it. The base says: 18-8 Stainless Steel Hong Kong. So probably not a salt cellar? Some other kind of condiment container? A toothpick holder? Anyone know or have any other ideas?

whisky for pigs

It's a sad and sorry state of affairs that has made me too busy for op-shopping lately. On Friday I headed to my usual Phillip haunts for the first time in yonks (read: months), and it was like greeting an old friend - one that seldom fails to give me a nice afternoon and a bit of a giggle.
This is, I think, a whiskey glass. It's larger than a shot glass, but smaller than a regular drinking glass. Marked with a measuring point for ladies, gents, and pigs. I was struck with a bit of braindeadness when I picked it up in Salvos, and stared at it for a full minute before I got the joke. $1 later, it was mine.

Also from Salvos - two large blue-grey - let's say duck-egg blue, shall we? - pitchers, which are perfect for my growing collection of blue and green tableware for the 2010 wedding, and are generally gorgeous for holding flowers around the house. I've already got one working full of roses and peonies. At $5 each, they look like ceramic but I suspect they're enamel.... they clang with a tinny kind of sound. I almost half hope they are enamel - being a total klutz at most activites, I trust they'll last longer that way.

The plates aren't for the wedding (which is a shame, being the perfect seafoam green colour for it), but were an irresistable bargain at $5.50 for the set of 6, from Vinnies. Both Vinnies and Salvos have a minimum $10 eftpos purchase, and I had zero cash in my wallet, so I had to find something else to buy in order to bring my total purchase over the limit.

Enter Mr. Tony Bianco.

A cute strappy pair of party heels, $15.50. In practically new condition, too. I was sold.... and marvelled at why a girl would give away such cute shoes?

It's a good idea to remember that eftpos limit when headed to the Phillip op shops. There aren't any convenient ATMs in a 1 km radius of the two stores (unless you count making a cash withdrawal from KFC, but I suspect you have to make a purchase first.) Also, both stores now have a no-plastic bags policy, which is another thing that I frequently forget - a policy which I fully support, but silently cursed which lugging my booty of strappy heels, 6 entree plates and 2 giant enamel pitchers clanging together back towards my car. The pitchers, in particular, made merry music (not forgetting the little pig whiskey glass tucked away inside). Good thing they turned out to be enamel.

White Ribbons

From today, all Salvos shops will be selling white ribbons. 

Buy and wear a white ribbon to show your support for the campaign to end violence against women.

White Ribbon Day is 25 November. 

More information here.

Our thanks to Ken from Salvos Stores for the information.

Bywong tip shop

Taph and I headed out of town on Saturday. As we were driving along Macs Reef road I noticed the sign for the landfill (Garbage tip) there. I remembered that years ago there was a tip shop there, so we swung the car around and went to check it out.

Their range was fairly limited (it is only a small tip) and we have no idea as to what their prices are like as the attendant was up at the tip face (once again, it is only a small tip and we could only see one guy working there).

It is open Thursday to Sunday and keeps the usual tip hours (7:30 am to 4 pm).

It is the Bywong local tip and is located 5 kms along Macs Reef road (from the federal highway end). The turnoff is just before Banker road. According to Google maps the GPS coordinates are -35.184191,149.299393